MorphoSys banks 53 million euros with Serotec sale

MorphoSys has completed the sale of its AbD Serotec unit to the USA's Bio-Rad Laboratories, allowing the German biotech to concentrate on technology and drug development.

Bio-Rad is paying 53 million euros for Serotec, which it describes as "one of the world's leading antibody manufacturers", offering over 15,000 antibodies, kits and accessories. The deal includes facilities in the USA, the UK and Germany and a "fully paid-up, non-exclusive licence agreement" to use MorphoSys's HuCAL technology for diagnostic and research purposes.__

With the divestment of Serotec completed, MorphoSys chief financial officer Jens Holstein said the firm "can devote 100% of its attention to building value in its core therapeutics business". Together with its pharmaceutical partners, MorphoSys has built a pipeline of more than 70 human antibody drug candidates for the treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.

At the end of November, MorphoSys unveiled a collaboration with privately- held, Netherlands-based Lanthio Pharma to develop lantipeptides, a novel class of therapeutics with high target selectivity and improved drug-like properties.